“Oh, please. You’re doing great. You’ve barely scowled this entire hike.”
“I’m rationing my scowls. I only brought six.”
I laughed and turned back around, biting my lip to hide my grin. This man. He was tryingsohard not to enjoy himself. But the flush creeping up his neck and the slight twitch of his lips gave him away.
Halfway down the slope, the trail narrowed, brushing close with a row of stubborn buckthorn brambles. I turned sideways to shuffle through the gap.
“Careful,” I warned, waving him forward. “This is where people decide they hate me forever.”
Ben ducked beneath a low branch and followed me through, the edge of his shirt snagging for a second. “If this was your plan to get me shirtless, you could’ve just asked.”
My foot caught on a root.
I stumbled, caught myself, and whipped around. “Did you justflirtwith me?”
He raised an eyebrow, completely unbothered. “Did it work?”
My heart did something completely inappropriate in my chest.
I cleared my throat, turned back around, and muttered, “Jury’s out.”
We descended farther until the trees began to thin, and the air started to smell like sun-warmed stone and pine and that cool undertone of fresh water. The trail turned sandy beneath our feet, and just ahead, the canyon walls opened into a wide clearing of sun-drenched rock, cradling a hidden lake like a secret.
The water glittered in the rising light, calm and glassy, surrounded by white sand and jagged stone ledges that sloped down into gentle waves.
Ben let out a slow breath beside me.
“Okay,” he said, his voice quieter now. “That’s… not bad.”
I beamed. “Right? It’s kind of my secret spot.”
He nodded, still staring out at the water. “Worth the blisters.”
“You haven’t even gotten blisters yet.”
“Oh, I will. But at least I won’t die bitter about it.”
I dropped my bag on a nearby boulder and stretched my arms over my head, the early morning sun warming my skin.
When I turned back, Ben was watching me again.
Not subtly.
His gaze dragged from the curve of my shoulder down the arch of my back and back up again.
My breath hitched. Heat rose in my cheeks.
“What?” I asked, voice a little too high.
He shrugged slowly, like the weight of the whole sky didn’t sit on those shoulders. “Just trying to figure you out.”
“Good luck with that,” I muttered, fumbling with the zipper of my backpack.
Ben stepped closer, just enough to make the air feel tight again.
“Maybe I don’t need to figure you out,” he said. “Maybe I just want to enjoy the view.”
I turned sharply to hide my expression.
